Belt It Or Not
by WriteToSaveYourself
Summary: Jesse just started at a new high school. Two unusual people sit down in front of him and proclaim themselves as his friend. Jesse doesn't know much about them, but one thing's for sure- he can't wait until choir. JessexBeca, two-shot, highschool AU.


**Happy (very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very belated) birthday to the one and only thecurlingiron! Woo! It's finally up, AJ! Not a bunch of fluff, but whatever. It's a two shot, because the ending is just not coming to me so I figured I might as well post something and also because it was getting way too long, in my opinion, for a one-shot anyway.**

_**Stuff you need to**_**_ know:_**

**~Brendan is the one in the movie you see with the brown hair and dyed-blond tips. Kyle is the one with longish blond hair, and Andrew is the one with the really thin douchebag beard. If you search images of the Trebles, you should be able to see them. I didn't name the others, though. I think the Trebles are big enough, don't you?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any names, brands, or trademarks mentioned. No copyright intended.**

* * *

**Belt It. . . Or Not**

**Chapter One - What's Up With The Juice?**

* * *

Jesse Swanson never really had friends.

Not for a very good reason, either. When he tried it just. . . Well, didn't go as planned.

* * *

_"Be careful, Jesse! You don't want to make Miss Johnson angry!" the little boy turns to look at his mother as she shouts. Confused, Jesse peers up, left, and right before finally looking down to see that his Batman shoes are two inches from his neighbor's daffodil garden. He turns around to face the other way as not to step on them before smiling, a smile with one front tooth missing, to his mother._

_Mrs. Swanson smiles and waves. Jesse takes a deep breath before stepping forward and tripping on his shoelace. Mrs. Swanson watches as his tiny body flies backwards . . . right into the daffodils. Jesse's mother sprints from the doorway over to her son, picking him up out of the dirt. After brushing him off as much as she can, she sends him on his way._

_Jesse crosses the street and heads up the pathway to school. Yes, he lives across from the elementary school. As he passes through the wire gate and into the courtyard with the big trees, he spots a girl sitting on the grass, reading. **I'll make some friends, like Mom told me to,** he thinks._

_Sliding his backpack off his shoulders, he sits next to the girl and waits. And waits, and waits, checks his watch._

**_Twenty minutes still. C'mon, you're in first grade already__!_**_** Stop coming so early,** he berates himself._

_The girl still hasn't looked up, so Jesse taps her shoulder. The girl sighs and looks up._

_"What do you want?" the small girl asks with a surprisingly strong voice as her bookmark slips into the pages._

_"I'm Jesse," he starts out slowly. "And I was wondering if . . . if you wanted to-,"_

_The girl shakes her head. "You're talking funny. Is there something wrong with you?" Her head tilts to the right as Jesse's face reddens._

_"No. I'm just nervous. Sorry. I was going to ask if you wanted to be my friend?" he asks hopefully._

_The girl studies him for a bit before shaking her head. "No, you're creepy," she stands up and smooths out her dress. The girl goes to pick up her book and bag when she notices Jesse's shoes. "And Batman's for babies!" She screeches an evil laugh as she runs away. _

_Jesse, defeated, also grabs his things and looks around the courtyard. Long after he gets bored; his eyes catch sight of the girl again and follow her until she stops outside of a classroom. The classroom _Jesse _is assigned to. He is still staring until he sees the tiny girl look from her friends to him, pointing. The group of girls laugh and Jesse feels a stone start to build a home in his stomach._

_He glances at his watch again._ **_Five minutes. Better head to class._**

_Grabbing his backpack from the grass, Jesse heads over to the classroom. Now, instead of the group of girls, there is a tall man with a short, fuzzy brown beard wrapping around his chin. His shaggy hair is the same shade as his beard, and Jesse notices his little wrinkles around his eyes._

_"Hello. Just head into class, the bell should be ringing soon," the man says softly. __**This must be the teacher,**__ Jesse thinks. He walks passed his new teacher. About half of the seats are filled. Jesse sees the girl from earlier talking to a larger group. Again, she points and the group gets a look of disgust. Jesse takes a seat next to a boy who is tapping on the desk with his head pressed against it._

_"Hello. I'm Jesse," he tentatively offers._

_"Kayla says you're weird," the boy says simply before getting up to talk with the girl- Kayla- and the large group._

_More of the same at recess, and the day after that. The next day, too._

_And the next, all the way until the last._

_And the year after that. All of third grade, too._

_It just kept going._

* * *

When he got to about sixth grade everyone realized the argument of 'He's weird' wasn't much to go by without any proof. That, however, didn't help. Everyone else already had their cliques, and Jesse didn't see the point in trying to worm his way into them. He was and still is fine on his own. Jesse doesn't exactly like it, but why are friends so special, anyway?

So when Jesse walks into high school in the first day of his sophomore year, he isn't expecting much. Get through the year, get good grades, do it for the other two years, graduate, get the hell out of this town. That's it. That's all he wants out of it.

Walking into English, Jesse notices the paper taped to the board with the seating arrangement. _Thank God, assigned seating._ He reaches up with an index finger and glides it down the paper, past all the names that he doesn't recognize until he finds his own. _Back corner of the right side. How fitting, the place with the least amount of chairs next to it._ Jesse turns around and heads to his seat. With his backpack set down and his butt in the chair, he's at a loss for what to do for the next -he glances at the clock- ten minutes.

He sighs and reaches into the front pouch of his backpack to grab the iPod Classic he always keeps with him. Jesse untangles his headphones that somehow manage to always get knots while just hanging out in the tiny pouch of his backpack. With shuffle turned on, he sinks back into his seat and closes his eyes.

_Come away little lass_  
_Come away to the water_  
_To the ones that are waiting only for you_  
_Come away little lass_  
_Come away to the water_  
_Away from the life that you always knew_  
_We are calling to you_  
_Come away little light_  
_Come away to the darkness_  
_In the shade of the night we'll come looking for you_  
_Come away little light_  
_Come away to the darkness_  
_To the ones appointed to see it through_  
_We are calling for you_  
_We are coming for you_

_Come away little lamb _  
_Come away to the water_  
_Give yourself so we might live anew _  
_Come away little lamb_  
_Come away to the slaughter _  
_To the ones appointed to see this through _  
_We are calling for you_  
_We are coming for you_

_Come away little lamb _  
_Come away to the water_  
_To the arms that are waiting only for you_  
_Come away little lamb come away to the slaughter_  
_To the one appointed to see this through _  
_We are calling for you_  
_We are coming for you_  
_We are coming for you_  
_We are coming for you_

Five minutes have passed as the song comes to an end and just as the first cord of the next one comes to life he feels a tap on his shoulder. Looking up and pressing pause, Jesse sees that a girl has sat in the seat to his left and boy in front of him.

The girl motions toward his headphones and he scrambles to take them out. As he does so the girl leans back in her chair and examines him before speaking.

"You're new here." Not a question, just a statement. That's all she gets out before the boy in front of him interrupts.

"Sorry about her. She isn't always that rude, I promise. I'm Benji, that's Beca," the boy – Benji – gestures to Beca at the end of his sentence and she takes over, almost like it was rehearsed.

"You should probably put your iPod away, class is starting soon, and we'll guide you to your next classes," Beca says as she reaches for Jesse's backpack. She zips open the top pocket and rummages around until finding his crumbled schedule and a pen. "I have next with you, P.E., and then you're on your own for Math. You have Science after that with Benji, and all sophomores have the same lunch period after fourth. Choir with Benji after that, and all three of us have History together," she says to the two boys as she writes this in the margins.

"Wait, you have your schedule memorized already?" Jesse asks as he notices the absence of the others' slips of paper.

"Oh, yeah. I wanted us to make friends this year, and didn't want to be bothered with looking at the schedule," Benji answers for them. Beca leans over and slaps his arm, sending him a glare. Jesse stifles a laugh and grabs his backpack from her lap, stuffing his iPod and headphones in carelessly. _Huh, so that's how they get so tangled, _he thinks.

He snaps back to attention when Beca opens her mouth. "There, Benji. We made a friend. Two is enough for me."

"We don't even know his name yet," Benji replies. His eyes turn to Jesse expectantly, and Jesse splutters.

"Swanson, Jesse. I-I mean," Jesse pauses and takes a breathe. _C'mon, you're not James Bond! _"I mean, I'm Jesse Swanson. Nice to meet you."

"Hello, Jesse. Do you happen to like close-up magic?" Benji starts pulling handkerchiefs out of his sleeve before Jesse has a chance to respond.

Beca rolls her eyes and puts a hand on Jesse's shoulder. "He'll stop, eventually. First the magic, then he'll tell you all about Star Wars and complain about the lack of Peeves throughout the movie adaptation of Harry Potter. He should be done after that, unless he tries to explain that I'm just 'shy around others' and 'really pretty cool when the walls aren't up'. That I'm 'just troubled," Beca says while her hand make her words into quotations.

"Woah, ease up on the hand quotes. You're gonna cramp," Jesse points out as he gently takes her hand and stops her fingers from bouncing and flexing again.

Beca yanks her hands away. "Whatever, Swanson."

"Swanson?"

"Yeah, Swanson. That's what you introduced yourself as, and I'm not going to let you forget it," she says as a smile breaks through. "Hey, do me a favor- see where Benji is in his newcomer-rant." Jesse does as Beca says and reports back that he is just getting into his frustration with Peeves. The brunette girl sighs. "I love Benji, I do. But there is only so many times a girl can hear that freaking speech." Benji, too focused on speaking and the magic trick, doesn't notice that neither of his companions are listening. Beca looks at him a moment before turning back to Jesse. "Alright, here's the deal: it's just me and Benji. He really wants friends, I know he does. But I also know that, while he is weird sometimes, he is fiercely loyal to any friends he makes. And he has a hard time believing it when he does make friends. So, just me at the moment. And I am _very _hard to get along with. Benji. . . he's really sweet. His rants aren't that bad and, although I'm not a movie person, I'll sit through them with him because he is just so enthusiastic about everything," Beca pauses and sighs, looking at her palms in her lap. "What I mean to say is. . . Don't hurt him. Be his friend, no matter if you end up hating me or not. Go ahead and scream up and down the halls about me being Satan's first born, I don't care." Now her hands ball into fists in her lap. Beca just stares at them, her brow furrowing and a frown forming easily, like she does this often. "But say one word about Benji, and you'll be on your knees faster than you can say 'ouch'. Are we clear?" Jesse nods, his eyes now downcast. _I wonder what they've had to go through for her to be so protective,_ he thinks. Beca doesn't see him nod, though. She is too busy talking to Benji. Jesse shakes his head twice, as if to shed his mind of the serious mood, and listens in.

". . . just this once, maybe say your speech in a period you have with him that I'm not in? I really don't want to hear it again." Beca smirks, letting a playful edge into her tone to let Benji know she isn't _that_ annoyed.

Benjji smiles and packs up his tricks, starting to say something about choir when the bell rings and a woman walks in. "Hello, class," she starts. "I'm Mrs. Kilmer, and I'll be your English teacher this year. I was born in Washington. . ." Jesse tunes out as she talks about herself. _Why does every teacher insist on doing this the first day? I guess it's better than doing work, though._

* * *

First period goes without incident and no more conversations with his two self-proclaimed friends. All the students file out the door, Jesse being one of the last. He finally gets through the clutter of teens and out the doorjamb. Jesse takes one step into the hallway and is jerked back.

"C'mon, Swanson. P.E.'s this way," Beca says, still pulling him by his backpack to the right. "Bye, Benji!" She shouts behind her. Jesse rights himself just after Benji yells the same and turns left.

They walk down the hall and make a couple turns in silence. "So. . . How did you and Benji become friends?" Jesse asks. Beca smirks and stops walking, looking pointedly at the door behind her and the one next to it. "What? Not gonna answer?"

"No, dork. I'll answer later. But, as you can see, we're at the locker rooms and don't have time." Her glance flickers to the doors again and a light bulb turns on for Jesse. _Oh._

"So, uhm, I guess I'll. . . go change?"

Beca says nothing and stares at him for a few second before laughing. "No," she laughs again, "I just wanted to see you struggle. We don't dress out for the first couple of weeks. We go to the blacktop behind these locker rooms and sit down at the painted numbers on the blacktop. C'mon." Beca grabs his arm this time and drags him to just where she said she would.

All the students mill around, not too far from their class's numbers but not near enough to be seen as eager. Beca drags Jesse over to a large group of guys clinging to the top of the bricks lining the fitness area. An equally large group of girls stand next to the guys' hanging torsos. A blonde girl is talking to one of the boys. "Bumper, just give up. You know you're the weakest." Jesse doesn't hear the boy's reply.

When the two get close to the teens, Beca yells to them. "What are you doing now?"

The blonde from before turns around. "Hey, Flat-Butt! Oh, the guys are trying to see who can hang on the longest. But never mind that. Who's your new boy toy?" She says as her eyes rest on Jesse.

The petite brunette glares at the large blonde. "He is_ not _my boy toy. His name is Swanson."

"Eh, Jesse, actually," he corrects as the blonde smirks to Beca and sticks her hand out to Jesse.

"Fat Amy, your neighborhood Australian."

Jesse puts his hand in her proffered one. "Your name is Fa-"

He doesn't have time to finish before she yanks his hand and their bodies are pressed against each other. She whispers into his ear, "Be nice to Flat-Butt and Magic Man or else I'll finish you like a cheesecake." His hand is released as Fat Amy pulls back and smiles. Jesse looks around incredulously, wondering if anyone else saw the weird occurrence, only to find all the girls' attention, including Beca's is on the brick-hangers.

Beca looks back toward the two and glares at Amy again. "Don't scare him. Benji is really excited this time."

A very tall brunette next to Beca joins the conversation. "I just don't get it. Doesn't he know we're _all _his friends, not just you?"

Beca sighs as the rest of the girls turn toward the conversation, leaving the guys hanging. Literally. "I don't know, Stacie. I've tried explaining it to him. But I think he thinks you're only nice to him because he's my friend, like I asked you to be nice or something. He just doesn't feel as if anyone is his friend unless he meets them by himself, not through someone else, I guess."

A short girl with short red and black hairs huffs before sighing. Her eyes catch Jesse's. "Well, how about we just let Benji deal with that, yeah? Introduce us to your new boo." The girls all laugh while Beca huffs and glares.

Her mouth opens in a retort when Fat Amy cuts her off. "All right, this is Jesse. I'm Fat Amy, as you know. This," she gestures to the tall one, "is Stacie." Amy points to a girl with long black hair, and then the girl who called him Beca's 'boo', "She is Lilly. She doesn't talk much. And that's Cynthia-Rose, the required lesbian of every girl a cappella group."

Cynthia-Rose smiles and punches Amy's arm playfully, not seeing Amy rub the spot afterward as she turns to talk with Stacie about the hanging boys again. A whistle blows, and all the boys drop off of the wall to head to their assigned teacher.

"A cappella group?" Jesse asks. Beca just shakes her head and drags him away to their teacher.

* * *

The bell rings again and students shuffle away toward their next class.

Beca walks to Jesse. "So, what do you think of Mr. Cera?"

"He seems. . . uhh. . . strict?" Jesse says, unsure.

The tiny girl laughs. "He is. But don't worry, he's also a super cool dude. Even if you walk the miles, he's still pretty nice toward the kids. At least, he was with me last year." She starts to walk away and Jesse goes with her.

"Uhm, do you know where B-6 is?"

"Just follow me, nerd. It's right next to my class."

"Oh, okay. Thanks. What do you have next?"

"Science." They continue to walk until they reach their classes. "Alright, you're on your own with Math. You have Mrs. Bimm for Science, same as me, so after math just head in here and wait for Benji." She gestures to the door of the classroom she's standing next to. "Have fun," she says enthusiastically. Jesse doesn't have a chance to respond before she goes into the class. He takes a deep breathe and goes into his own room.

* * *

As Jesse walks out of Mr. Teslin's class, he passes Beca going in. He smirks. "Did we just trade classes?"

She rolls her eyes before nodding. He watches at the doorway as she takes the seat he was previously in: the back right corner. The least amount of people near her as possible. He smiles sadly and walks into the next door down. Jesse notices these desks sit two to a table. He moves toward the back when he hears, "Jesse!"

Behind him, standing in the doorjamb, is Benji, waving wildly. "Up here!" He point to the center table in the front row. Jesse sighs._ Of course, we just _had_ to sit in the front._ Benji is already seated and taking out a notebook and paper when Jesse sits down.

"Are you taking notes?"

"Yeah. I've been doing it for all my classes. You never know what you might need!" He flips to the first clean page of the notebook -about halfway through- and looks at Jesse. "Don't you?"

"Uh, no. But that's cool that you're so. . . prepared." He pauses before asking, "How much could you possibly get in only three classes?"

"Oh, Well, there were a lot of rules," Benji states, eyes wide.

There is a beat of silence before Jesse chuckles. "You know what, Benji?" he asks as Mrs. Bimm walks in, "I think we're going to be great friends."

The boy's hand that was previously gripping his pencil goes slack as a smile breaks out on his face and widens.

* * *

Jesse waits patiently as Benji packs up his stuff. "Alright," Benji says when he finishes, "I'll show you to the cafeteria." They walk silently for a bit before Benji starts rambling. "Well, the cafeteria is just where we get food. We never eat in there. I never go in there, actually. My mom always packs my lunch. We have benches and stuff outside. I usually sit with Beca and her friends, but you don't have to. I know some guys you'll really like that you can sit with, if you want. And I completely understand if-"

"Whoa, slow down. I'm sitting with you and Beca. And we don't have to go to the cafeteria, I have a lunch. No worries," he smiles down at the boy. Benji walks through double doors instead of going left to the cafeteria.

The benches are all green. Some are circular and made of stone, some are the weird criss-crossed iron ones that make your butt numb. Jesse sees a girl with jean shorts get up from one of these tables, now sporting the same criss-sross design impressed into her thighs. "Barb!" a girl at her table shouts and runs after her, trying to cover the "Barb's" legs. Students scatter every where around the courtyard. A big group sits on a slab of higher concrete that has a grey stone wall surrounding it up to about the table's height. Benji heads in that direction and Jesse follows.

As they get closer, Jesse recognizes the girls from P.E. and a few of the boys that were hanging on the walls. Beca's sitting on top of the table, her feet stretched down the middle and hands propping her up. Her tiny stature allows for the friends to let their backpacks pile up on the other half of the table and for lunches to be set on either side of her. The group is spread out on the table, the ground surrounding the table, and some with their feet hanging off the edge of the wall facing the table. It's set in such a way that no one is excluded._ They all seem really close. That's kind of. . . awesome_.

"Hey, guys!" Benji exclaims as he sets his backpack down and sits to the left of Beca's feet. Jesse follows suit and sits next to a dark-skinned guy across from a red-head. "For everyone that hasn't met him, this is Jesse." Jesse waves to all the curious eyes now turned toward him.

A boy with short brown hair sitting on the wall looks his way. "Looks like a capitol 'l' Loser! He should probably sit back, the Bumper awesomeness might accidentally blow him away."

A girl with bright blonde hair that sits across from Jesse looks to the aforementioned red-head then to the boy who just spoke with disgust. "Bumper, if anyone's being blown away by you, it's from your B.O."_ So, his name is Bumper. That must have sucked for him growing up._ The corner of Jesse's mouth lifts up as he raises a hand to cover it, trying to avoid Bumper's scathing look currently directed at the blonde.

The ginger snickers, but shoots an eye-roll at Jesse. "Don't worry about them. Choir rivalry is hard for them to get past. I'm Chloe, by the way, resident peace-maker. I'm a senior, along with Aubrey," she gestures to the blonde seated next to her," Bumper, the guy with B.O.," another laugh bubbles out from Chloe's mouth, "Donald is the boy next to you with the tan skin, hipster glasses, and sweater-"

"Hey!" Donald yelps from next to Jesse, by Beca's left hand. "I'm _not_ a hipster!" Lilly gets up from her spot on the ground and comes behind Donald and whispers something that makes Donald smile and say, "That's adorable." She smiles, too, and sits back down.

"Why don't you two just make like koalas and get down and dirty already?" Fat Amy asks, plopping down next to Aubrey and Beca's right foot.

"Uh, Amy, I don't think that's what-"

Aubrey interrupts Beca. "No, no, no. I won't allow Lilly to be Treble-boned. It's not happening."

Amy just laughs. "Are you sure? I mean, she might get a bit louder during our performances if Donald here can make her scre-"

"Amy! Enough!" One blonde glares at the other as she snorts but lets it drop. Donald stays silent, but Beca is shaking with laughter along with Chloe.

"Uh, Chloe, wanna finish those introductions?" Jesse hesitates to ask.

"Oh! Sure! So, yeah, me, Aubrey, Donald, and Bumper are seniors. You, Benji, and Beca are the only sophomores. Hat, Unicycle, Kolio, Cynthia-Rose, Stacie, Fat Amy, Denise, Ashley, Jessica, Brendan, Kyle, Andrew, and Lilly are juniors," she points to each person in turn. "We used to have two more, Kori and Mary Elise, but they were Treble-boned so Aubrey kicked them out. We don't have any freshman, but in a week or so we will! You see, everyone here is in choir, and auditions are next week. Josh and Justin aren't actually in the class, they just T.A., but whatever."

"But what do the freshmen do with that extra period? What's trouble bones?" Jesse asks._ I don't remember auditioning, just getting in. . ._

"Oh, well, we have a sort of activities fair the first day. Every freshmen has their fifth period open for elective, and for the next two weeks while they choose one, or in our case audition for it, they have it labeled as 'Freshmen Studies'. Basically they sit in the library and do homework and stuff."

"Wait, but I never auditioned," he points out.

"Oh, don't worry, we have spies."

"Spies?"

"Yes. Spies."

"Chloe!" Beca admonishes, "Stop freaking him out! No, we don't have spies. We, meaning the Bellas and Trebles, went to your house a couple weeks ago, because apparently we're the town's new Welcome Wagon," cue an eye-roll and a glare directed at the ginger, "While we were there your mom gave us cookies and said we could wait until you got out of the shower. That's when we heard you. We left before we could meet you, though."

"Wait, what? Why?" _Okay, they were in my house. While I was showering. . . Weird. "_And. . . who is Bella?"

"Hat tried jumping on the couches when your mom went to get more cookies and fell off, dislocating his elbow in the process. See, Hat's the guy with, well, a hat obviously, and the splint." Jesse looks to where Beca points. "And Bella isn't a person- er, I mean, I'm sure there is someone somewhere named Bella, but Chloe said Bellas. Like Barden Bellas. And Trebles. You'll find out in choir."

_Whoa. This is confusing. _He tells them so and the group laughs. "You're alright, Swanson." Beca punches his arm lightly. "Don't worry. It's not that important."

"Wait, Flatt-Butts, you didn't answer one of his questions!"

Beca sighs, throwing out yet another eye-roll. "And what, Fat Amy, was the question?" She watches as Jesse takes out a brown paper bag, emptying it onto the table. An apple goes rolling a bit to his left and his hand reaches to stop it. Other than that he has two juice pouches, a sandwich saran wrap, and a Honey Bun.

Fat Amy pauses, eyes Jesse's Honey Bun, looks back to Beca and then takes a deep breath. "_He wants to know what Treble-boning is_."

"Amy! We will not be telling our _enemies_ what Treble-boning is!" Aubrey exclaims before clapping a hand over her mouth. Chloe puts her own hand on the blonde girl's back soothingly. Aubrey audibly swallows and puts her hand down, nodding when Chloe asks if she's okay.

Beca just laughs and swipes Jesse's apple, and asks, "Can I have a bite of this?"

He nods and he can hear the crunch of the apple's skin as she bites before setting back down next to him. He goes on eating his lunch with a staring Beca for a couple moments without comment from anyone, as the rest of the table is now lost in their own conversation. Fat Amy seems to be freaking Benji out with her boyfriend tales while Chloe is talking Aubrey out of another Mariah Carey chart topper. Beca keeps looking at Jesse's lunch, but he can't figure out why. _Maybe she wants some? I don't see her with her own lunch._

She interrupts just as he was going to offer it to her. "Okay, Swanson, I've gotta know. What's with the juice pouches?"

"What do you mean? It's something to drink with my lunch. Obviously I'm going to need more than one. I'm a growing teenager. . . Unlike yourself," he laughs.

Benji hears this and breaks off his conversation with Amy, grateful to not hear about how exactly she saved Chloe from herpes with her boyfriend's kangaroo, or what his kangaroo actually is.

"Don'y make fun of her size," he tells Jesse, "Or she'll whoop you at the Riff-Off."

"Wait, so what's a Riff-Off?" But Benji was already invested in Aubrey and Chloe's conversation. ("I think we should do one of Beca's mixes for auditions!" "Sorry, who are you?" "Aubrey, that's Benji!" "Oh, whatever, the answer is still 'no'!")

"No, really, why are you drinking juice pouches?" Beca demands again.

Jesse laughs. "Well, why not? I mean, who doesn't love juice? And it's in a convenient pouch, how awesome is that?" Beca just shrugs and takes another hunk out of his apple. "What? You can't tell me that they're not convenient."

"No, that's not what I'm saying. I just don't see the appeal of juice."

Jesse gasps. "Beca- wait, what's your last name?"

"Mitchell."

"Well, Beca Mitchell, I will change that. You'll thank me someday," he states dramatically, sticking the yellow straw into the pouch and shoving it toward her face. She shoves his arm away. "C'mon! Just try it!"

Beca sighs. "Fine. Weirdo," she tacks on as she swipes the juice from his hands, a bit too quick. Some of the drink gets squeezed out of the straw and Beca growls, frustrated.

Jesse looks on, amused. "It's almost like you've never had juice." She shrugs her shoulders again. He raises an eyebrow, incredulous. "You can't be serious?" Beca just shakes her head. For the second time in two minutes, Jesse gasps. "Beca, you've been so deprived! Well, what are you waiting for? This is going to be life-changing!"

Another eye-roll is thrown his way, but she stays quiet. Beca puts her lips to the ugly yellow straw and sucks. She swallows and smiles a bit, and Jesse's eyes light up. "So? Do you like it?"

Looking up at him, her face falls back into a disinterested frown. "Yeah, whatever, Swanson."

She hands the juice pouch back to him. He takes a drink before setting it down. "I know you like it, Beca. Why not admit it?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Why do you insist in being difficult?"

"Oh,_ I'm_ being difficult? _You're_ the one who won't accept that not everyone likes the things that you do!"

The pair sat in almost silence for a moment or two- almost being the key word, as the small brunette kept huffing as their eyes never leave the other's. That's when they noticed- _almost silence_. They both turn away from staring down each other, wondering what happened to the others' conversations. The _whole group_ of friends are now turned toward the two, the range of expressions differing drastically from stunned to impressed to disgusted.

"Dude," Bumper is the first to speak, being one (of two) of the disgusted, "Just get the sexual tension over with, guys. Some of us are trying to eat."

Chloe pipes in after him. "Oh, hush, I think they're adorbs. Aubrey, don't you think they are just too cute?"

"He's a Treble. It wouldn't matter anyway." Aubrey, the other disgusted, chimes in.

"Well, I think it's crazy-cute. Oh, it's like Romeo and Juliet! Except no one is going to die!"

Fat Amy raises an eyebrow. "Unless Beca kills him."

The tiny brunette hisses at Amy and jumps off the table. "If you're quite done, it's time for choir." She picks up her backpack and storms a path away from the table of friends.

"But the bell hasn't eve-" _Bring! Bring! _Stacie huffs as a chuckle escapes Beca's lips. "Oh, whatever."


End file.
